Journal Entry 23-Doomed to Repeat the Past

By now we all know of the calamity at the Brazil night club “KISS” where 235 people, mostly college students lost their lives. First reports are telling us that there was one way in and one way out. Security hindered the fleeing patrons in fear of folks not paying their bills. The cause appears to be that the band lit flares and set the combustible sound proof ceiling insulation on fire. (Let’s keep our guns holstered and wait for the investigation to tell us what happened so let’s proceed with caution.) This last item should sound alarmingly familiar. If you’re a student of fire (a fire nerd and fire history buff like me) the first thing you thought of when you heard the news, was the Station Night Club fire in West Warwick, RI in 2003. The band (Great White) lit indoor pyrotechnics which ignited the combustible sound proofing on the ceiling. Ninety eight people perished in a matter of minutes as the fire rapidly traveled throughout the club. Two died later in the hospital. (Go to www.NIST.gov for the follow up investigation, excellent graphics and videos of the fire. They built also the stages in their test facility and recreated the fire with and without sprinklers. One or two sprinkler heads on the stage and the incident probably wouldn’t have made the evening news past the West Warwick, RI local news affiliate.)

My old buddy John Salka (Retired FDNY Battalion Chief) just posted a blog entry on Firehouse.com (2/1/2013). He discusses the fact that a city in New York State (Watertown) has told their firefighters to no longer inspect buildings. They will leave all of it to a 4 person city wide code enforcement unit. The City Manager gave this order upon her exit on her last day of work at the end of January. (Nice job coward.) John went on to say “when firefighters make annual visits to the commercial buildings they will be responding to, they become familiar with the layout, the exit and entrance locations, the fire load and just about every other feature of the location. This makes a firefighter more effective and successful and certainly reduces fire losses and firefighter injuries and fatalities. To limit or restrict firefighters from familiarizing themselves with the buildings they will be fighting fires in is insanity. This action by the city is certainly short cited and sets the stage for disaster.” We said my friend.

Here’s a fire department that is taking the initiative to go out, pre-plan their district, pick up and write violations and really get to know their response area. (We know lots of you don’t do this or hate doing it but it really works. “The building is your enemy, know your enemy” -- Francis Brannigan.) We must continue to get out in the district and look around. Ask your seasoned officers if you’re a non-believer. Not enough fire departments today have enough staff in their Fire Prevention Bureaus or Fire Marshal’s office to get it all done. (Inspections, investigations, public education, re-inspections, plan review, etc. etc. etc.)  Even if they have staff, the local company inspections are essential to fire ground safety and survivability and are an enhancement to the work being done by the Inspectors and Fire Marshals.

The fire in West Warwick made international news just as the fire in Brazil did. Many years ago it took a long time to get the word around the world. Now it’s instant. Do people all over the world still have that “it can’t happen here” mentality? Yes. If we don’t learn the lessons of the past, are we doomed to repeat them? We just did. Get out there, take a good look around your district and save some lives. Fire Prevention work saves lives. The lives of your customers, your brother and sister fighters and maybe even your own.

Read more on some of the cataclysmic public assembly fires of the past. Maybe these will motivate you:

Iroquois Theater Fire (1903) - 605 dead

Rhythm Club/Natchez Dance Hall (1940) - 209 dead

Cocoanut Grove Night Club (1942) - 492 dead

Beverly Hills Supper Club (1977) – 165 dead

The body count is high enough. Let’s get going.

Be safe,

Ronnie K

Journal Entry 20: Fire Prevention Week; A Love-Hate Affair

Fire Chiefs, Fire Marshals, Fire Inspectors, Public Fire Safety Educators, Mayors and Councils, teachers and school children all love fire prevention week. Those of us who are “believers” but are not directly involved in the prevention side of the house think it’s a pretty good idea too. If Ben Franklin was around, he’d be standing on the stages in Indianapolis and Baltimore and screaming at the top of his lungs, telling us it’s the real work, the most important work and the work that really counts the most. Perhaps he was right. For me personally, I’m a true believer not only because we can save our customers from perishing in fires but we can save firefighters as well. Fire prevention saves firefighters lives. If you’ve gotten an email from me, it says it under my name and title. It’s pretty simple. No fires, no runs, no incidents, no fires, no accidents; we all get to go home unscathed. Not a bad plan I’d say. I know those who may be reading this under the age of 45 or even 50 who are still riding the BRT’s are still saying “that’s not why I joined.” Bad news. It’s the very mantra of why the fire service was created. The first thousand papers or so that Ben Franklin wrote revolved around fire prevention and preventative measures. The fire companies that were created, following his original writings were really an answer to human failure. Even today, when the oversized doors roll up and the BRT’s are heading to a working fire, that’s a failure in our system. And then we go ahead and put our failures on the covers of national fire service magazines. Does anyone else advertise their failures like we do? I don’t think so. I’ve seen law enforcement magazines and have never seen a shot up/cut up dead body on the cover. Architecture magazines don’t show a collapsed building and the Journal of the American Medical Association doesn’t show dead patients. Getting back to the causes of fire, for the most part (not all) it’s a result of human error (or an “on-purpose” by a mad or sad person) or a failure to comply with a code section (really written to protect people and property…..no…. really they were) or failure to maintain a piece of equipment (e.g. heating, cooking). Looking at this last long sentence, it all seems to point to the human factor.

So I know you the guys and gals riding the BRT’s still hate it (fire prevention activities) anyway. “Hey cap, do we really have to go out to the Halton Public School today and get down on our hands and knees and explain to the kids about fire safety, fire prevention and surviving a fire in their house?” (As I type this, it sounds extremely stupid that anyone in our service would even ask a question like that.) You not only have to, you’re sworn to do it. It’s your obligation as a fire service professional. (I’m addressing any member of every fire department, paycheck or not.) Remember that every fire prevented, is a family not burned out of their home, a person not hurt or worse, a business that is still in business, hope for the economic profile of your town and most of all, no chance of injury or worse to our people. Make sense yet?

So what are you doing this month? What is your contribution to the cause? Sitting and waiting for the next “job” is not quite enough. Getting out and preaching prevention is a contribution we all should and must make. Don’t sit there and say “that’s the Fire Marshal’s job.” It’s all of our jobs from the rookie to the Chief of Department. Sorry to tell you but we’re all in this together.

And by the way, we officially observe Fire Prevention week when October 9^th is within the week. For those of you who refuse to look that up, it’s when the Great Chicago Fire started. When President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week on October 4–10, 1925, he noted that in the previous year some 15,000 lives were lost to fire in the United States. Calling the loss "startling", Coolidge's proclamation stated: "This waste results from the conditions which justify a sense of shame and horror; for the greater part of it could and ought to be prevented. It is highly desirable that every effort be made to reform the conditions which have made possible so vast a destruction of the national wealth".

So, hit the off button on the remote for the 52” flat screen, get off the couch and get out and do something good for our customers, our communities and ourselves. You’ll be surprised of the satisfaction you’ll get by doing this work. You’re also saving your own life and those around you in the firehouse. And by the way, make every week, fire prevention week! It’s not seasonal. It’s really a year round sport.

Good luck and be safe,

Ronnie K

P.S.-The National Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial Weekend is this week, October 5-7 with the candle light ceremony at 1830 (EST) on Saturday and the main ceremonies on Sunday, October 7 at 1000 hours EST. It will be streamed live over the internet. Go to the NFFF web site at www.firehero.org. You can participate from home too. Have your local religious institution ring their bells on Sunday. Go to www.bellsacrossamerica.com. Don’t forget to set an extra place at the lunch or dinner table for the firefighter who never made it home. REK